Copper prices may be soaring, but the market is not yet factoring in key future demand from decarbonization and the new energy transition, the chairman and chief executive of Freeport-McMoRan said.
Richard Adkerson, who has been at Freeport since 1989 and watched multiple pricing cycles evolve, said the natural comparative period for the currently soaring copper price is 2010-11, when the market peaked at record highs around $4.50 per lb, or $10,124 per tonne. "Every situation is different, but I do feel this has a degree of an echo from where we were ten years ago when copper hit its all-time high of $4.50 per lb. The echo with 2010-11 is how fast copper demand recovered, led by China, following the financial crisis of 2007-08," he said during an interview at the virtual Fastmarkets Copper Seminar on Friday March 12.The current rally comes after the Covid-19 pandemic fueled a decline in prices to a low of $4,626.50 per tonne a year ago, before a steady ascent to current levels not far shy of record highs. It is a move that Adkerson...